Sweetfern, Comptonia peregrina, is neither sweet nor a fern, but is one of my favorite plants. It looks like something the dinosaurs would have walked through, and smells like all the warmest, spiciest, most magical aromas of imagination.

Monday, May 27, 2013

the perfect bean for me

Tipper at Blind Pig and the Acorn recently invited me to participate in a Sow True Seeds bean planting project. It simply involves planting some lovely organic heirloom beans in my garden, taking some pictures and reporting back.
~~~By the way, I use the expression "my garden" loosely. Very loosely. I live in a woodsy spot, and although the goats have been working very hard in recent years to create a clearing, I still spend a lot of time in April and May squinting up, looking for little gaps in the canopy that may allow enough light through to support vegetable plants.Then I dig a little hole between the rocks, making a spot for for a few seeds and plants. I try to do this without breaking another shovel handle.So, it's a little spot here, and a little spot there. And everywhere there are countless insects and critters just rubbing their little feet and paws together in anticipation every time they see me out there with a shovel, a water jug, and a look of optimistic determination.
~~~

Naturally (because of that optimistic thing), when Tipper kindly invited me to join in on the bean project, I was delighted!

And Tipper found just exactly the right beans for me:

I opened the package at the letterbox, and started laughing while standing right there on the road.

I am still laughing!

My standards for seed have expanded. Now it's not just "organic" I want to see on the seed packet...it's organic and lazy!

And now that the sun is shining at last, I will be puttering away in my patch. It was 34F when I got up this morning, but I hope for better things from now on.

Fingers crossed.

Except when I'm swatting at the clouds of blackflies. Can't do that with crossed fingers. It makes the blackflies laugh while they are biting me.
~~~

And here are a few of my first lazy beans, having a soak before planting, to give them a little headstart.

Because the way I garden, seeds and plants need every little bit of an advantage they can possibly get. Good luck, little beans!

~~~

By the way, in case you aren't familiar with "greasy beans" - the name refers to the way the bean pods look shiny, due to a lack of the fuzz typical of other green beans. Here is a fuzzy bean:

And one day I hope to have a greasy bean comparison shot!

~~~

There are apparently many, many, many varieties of greasy beans from the Appalachian region and thereabouts, where families have grown their own special favorites year after year.

Huh. I have no idea about types and varieties and stuff. I just like the type of green beans that gets eaten whole, after boiling, and that's about it...Good luck! I enjoyed your descriptions of your "garden" and its eager insects. :-)

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